Meta Horizon Worlds Spotlight: gungangoose

Welcome back to our weekly spotlight on the people building for Meta Horizon Worlds and their amazing creations.

Last week, we spent some time on a gorgeous ship, sending lanterns floating gently into the sky in Dawn_333’s Enchanted Lanterns.

This week, we spoke with gungangoose, the creator of The Tea Party, a place to snack on macarons and tea sandwiches, play some bocce, or enjoy bucolic gardens.

I had a good friend who got started in VR just before the pandemic and he invited me into the space to try it. After a few months of lockdown, I was feeling very isolated and I saw how much fun he was having in the Worlds beta, so I bought a Meta Quest 2 and applied for the beta myself.

I try to build worlds that I want to experience and enjoy. I'm very active in the community and I try to gauge what's going on that makes me passionate. And I try to use my worlds to educate visitors about a subject that's being debated or illustrate a point in a way that is fun or beautiful.

I want to give people beautiful places to socialize, as well as enjoy a good laugh. Many of my worlds are meant to be silly spaces that could really only exist in VR. I made an entire world dedicated to corn because I’d originally wanted to make an Instagram reel, and then what started as a joke snowballed into a very chaotic and fun world.

The first world I built entirely on my own was centered around a 15-foot-tall statue of a famous actor. I’d been having recurring dreams where he appeared and helped me out with mundane tasks, like backing out of a tight parking space, and I wanted to try to model a human form in Worlds, so he was the obvious choice.

I have a background in 3D animation and illustration, but I've yet to really "make it" professionally in that field. I currently care for my parents and usually do all my building and socializing in Worlds late at night.

I do! My favorite collaboration was when I worked on a painting tech demo and two of us were invited to "decorate the world however we wanted." I took that as a challenge to (jokingly) make him regret that phrasing. I started with frilly purple curtains and before we knew it, the world had spiraled into what we now call Paint Club, where visitors enter "Grandma's She Shed," which is where she does her crafts.

A few weeks after launch, I was talking with a handful of other ladies about what we’d put in our own "She Shed," and that sparked a movement in Worlds, including She Shed Neighborhood. There are now ten shed worlds made by women as spaces where we can represent ourselves, and we're always welcoming more.

Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Build what tickles your brain and brings you joy. When you’ve published worlds, you’ll get to meet people that appreciate the same things as you and you'll make amazing friends. So experiment and learn the tools at your own pace and only really jump in when you feel you're ready.

For the first year I was in Worlds, I worked almost exclusively on collaborative sandboxes and mini games with others. I didn't know what to build, and I was learning the tools. So I took my time and I just built without any real specific purpose other than to be silly and playful. I think that really helped me learn how the tools worked without the pressure to be "instantly good" as a builder.

I believe Worlds’ greatest strength is social. Experiencing a world built by someone you've just met is like seeing inside their brain. It can give you a profound and new understanding of people.

I hope VR is an ever-evolving way to experience the metaverse and that it can bring us new and interesting ways to experience and appreciate our natural world, and also bring people closer together.

Worlds is where I spend the majority of my time, but I also enjoy a few good rounds of Among Us VR or watching a new streaming release with friends in Bigscreen.